Yes.... I won't lie to you. I've been trying to get this MS Space thing to work for years, and now have a large beard. Finally just yesterday, I managed to install the thing on a HP Vectra VL6/266 running MS-DOS 6.22, and make a boot disk. And do you know what if it doesn't do exactly what yours does; flashes the title screen then gives a smug little line of text and waves goodbye at the DOS prompt. Perhaps it's something to do with video drivers and the MSSPACE.INI files but nobody cares any more. I don't think this software ever worked, it's just a game that 3vil Microsoft g33ks played on people, pretending that if you followed their instructions you'd have a working space simulator. Like this: 'Oh, title screen flashes up, then nothing? You poor fool, that's easy to fix. Just download SVGA8.DRV from Microsoft, install it in the MSSPACE folder, then edit MSSPACE.INI by typing in your favourite colour at the beginning, then any 6-digit number, say 012345, followed by 6 spaces, then a carriage return. That should fix it.'

Not sure what to make of this thread... anyway, I have zero problems installing and running MS Space Simulator with default settings in DOSBox 0.74 and SVN.

Maybe provide some actual details on how you install and run the game, and please be sure to include the installation options you are choosing and the exact commands you are typing in DOSBox.

Remember to configure for EMS, not XMS. Space Simulator is one of those rare games that actually *REQUIRES* EMS.

Thank you for your suggestion. I have tried this. But unfortunately I had no results. I think I wait for a newer version of DOSBOX.
😅

EMS is enabled by default in the DOSBox settings. You would have to go out of your way to disable it, and then the game would give you a very clear message telling you that it needs EMS.

Waiting for the next release of DOSBox will accomplish nothing, because the game works fine in 0.74 when installed and configured correctly. You are probably doing something unusual or wrong that keeps the game from working like it should, but no one can point out the problem if you don't explain what you're doing.

I have managed to get Spacesimulator working.
I start DOSBox.
I do:

MOUNT c ~/DOS
MOUNT d ~/spacesim

I go to the D: disk en start STARTBOX.BAT

In the subdirectory C:\DOS is the file SMARTDRV.EXE file from MSDOS 6.2.

In the subdirectory D:\SPACESIM is a subdirectory SSIM
In the subdirectory SSIM are the files from the spacesimulator program.

In the subdirectory D:\SPACESIM is a batchfile STARTBOX.BAT.
In the file STARTBOX.BAT is:

REM Door mij aangepast op 11-4-2012
REM @echo off
REM SET COMSPEC=C:\COMMAND.COM
REM PATH C:\WINDOWS;C:\DOS;C:\GAZE\;C:\PCTOOLS\
REM set BOOTDISK=C:\
C:\DOS\smartdrv 512
REM prompt $p$g
D:
CD\
CD\SSIM\
SS1

This batchfile is a adaption of the batchfile that is on the bootfloppy that MAKEBOOT.EXE from Spacesimulator can make.
I have changed the commands that are not needed into REM statements.
Spacesimulator wil now start.
I hope this may be helpful to others who want to use Spacesimulator.
I am beyond the moon.

I have changed the commands that are not needed into REM statements.

You forgot to REM out SMARTDRV, because it's absolutely not needed.

Your procedure is unnecessarily involved, and because you don't mention the installation process at all, I'm guessing that not properly installing the game is the source of your difficulty in getting it to run.

MS Space Simulator is no different than most DOS games with respect to installing and running it. Use default settings in DOSBox, install to a directory (C:\SPACESIM is the suggested default), choose the graphics resolution, switch to the game directory, run the game executable. That's ALL there is to it.

I have had for years many DOS programs, including MS Space Simulator and MS Flight Simulator 5.1, running OK under DOSBox v. 0.72.
When I installed DOSBox v. 0.74 (admittedly much more efficient for most games), these two programmes no longer worked, with different error messages that could not be resolved.

However, I have kept DOSBox v.0.72, and under it both work.
Since the simulators installed folders and files are the same, the only conclusion is that v.0.74 is now NOT COMPATIBLE with these two games.

copernico wrote:

Since the simulators installed folders and files are the same, the only conclusion is that v.0.74 is now NOT COMPATIBLE with these two games.

Do you see the screenshot I posted of MS Space Simulator running in 0.74? Is it not suggesting to you that your "only conclusion" is erroneous? What you, and apparently others, are failing to consider is that the game must be INSTALLED using DOSBox 0.74, rather than trying to use an old installation. Now, you may not actually HAVE original media or installation files, but is that DOSBox's fault?

No my ORIGINAL and REGISTERED media were lost and, besides, were floppies, hardly something that would work on a modern PC. Myself, and every other legitimate owner of old DOS games, simply copy our old files. In most cases, that is our only bet.
Let me clarify alto that I did NOT say it is a DOSBOx fault, just an issue with v. 0.74. These games all work flawlessly under v. 0.72.
Perhaps it should be clarified that compatibility is (in these very few cases and only for v. 0.74) only achieved by reinstalling. (Which very few present-day users of floppy-era DOS games can do).

I can confirm that with images of the original floppy disks, Microsoft Space Simulator and Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.0 install correctly with the latest SVN. These installs seem to run correctly in vanilla 0.74 DOSBox. DOSBox tends to get closer to the behavior of real hardware and real MS-DOS as the versions increase. What may have slid by in earlier versions of DOSBox may no longer work in current DOSBox. Of course there is always a possibility of a regression, but not in this case.

It may be possible that you installed to different directories or drives on your old system or some of the files have been damaged.

Quite a few people who have floppy disks, and many who don't have disks but have images, know how to install from floppy images with DOSBox.

With MS Space Simulator you can copy the installer files from all floppies to a folder on your hard disk and mount that folder in DOSBox as the A drive with the -t floppy switch. That method doesn't work in all cases, but it does for MSSS.

I'm not sure what allows a prior installation of MSSS to work in 0.72 but not in 0.74, as I've read only vague descriptions of what happens, but a claim that 0.74 is not compatible with the game is simply untrue.

OK, OK. My installation crashed with "Error loading 2D driver". I tried to resolve this investigating the matter: under DOSBox 0.74 I went to the Space Sim. folder, run setup.exe, and selected (1) VGA. Now ss1 worked, but in the abysmal 320x400 resolution.

If one tries any of the higher resolutions (2) 640x480 or even better (3) 800x600, the second dialog asks to select "Super VGA Card".

At this stage, in DOS 6.2, Windows 9x and Windows XP and also in Windows 7 with DOSBox v. 0.72, the alternative that works is normally (1) VESA 1.2.

If instead we are running DOSBox v. 0.74, VESA produces the above-mentioned error: at least in my PC (found later the reason, pls. read on!)

Problem resolved. Have updated the compatibility list in the DOSBox website as required.

Thanks for the kind replies to my initial post.

No, VESA is the correct choice, and it does work in 0.74 with default settings. Video 7 SVGA is not emulated.

OK, so for some reason identical DOSBox 0.74 versions seem to behave differently in different PCs (cannot be different Space Sim. versions: AFAIK there was only one). Believe, in my PC VESA will not work, and Video 7 will.

Most likely you are not using default settings in DOSBox 0.74. The most important of the default settings in this case is machine=svga_s3, which has built-in support for VESA.

If you're using the machine=svga_s3 setting, another possibility is that your SVGA driver files are different. I don't know why that would be the case, but for comparison, here's a list of the driver files as created by the installer, with their size and CRC-32:

1SVGA.DRV   17,408  63CE8006
2SVGA.PBL    6,444  317D0E88
3SVGA8.DRV  17,408  69B31C38
4SVGA8.PBL  10,188  AD97FE04

Thank you ripsaw. My files were OK, but my default settings in DOSBox were machine=svga_et4000. No idea why! When I set it to svga_s3, it returned to normal. I apologise